Veterans Administration Enrollment Fee Update 15 February 2008
Posted by Service Officer on February 15th, 2008
VA ENROLLMENT FEE UPDATE 01: The President’s proposed 2009 VA budget, once again, calls for an annual enrollment fee for veterans in priority 7 and 8 and an increase in the pharmacy co-pays. Fortunately, unlike DoD the VA did not budget the “savings” that adoption of such proposals would bring into to the healthcare budget. Therefore, if the Military Coalition is once again successful at stopping these proposed increases there will not be a hole in the VA’s healthcare budget. The Budget as submitted presently includes the following tiered annual enrollment fees based on veteran’s family income (Priority 7/8):
Family Income Annual Enrollment Fee
Under $50,000 None
$50,000 -$74,999 $250
$75,000 -$99,999 $500
$100,000 and above $750
It also calls for an increase in pharmacy co-payments from $8 to $15 (Priority 7/8). Last year Congress passed historic increases in the VA budget; $3.7 billion additional funding was given to the VA in emergency funding for this year. Hopefully, permanent additional funding can be added to this already increased budget. [Source: TREA Washington Update 8 Feb 08 ++]
